Category: Bad Survivalist

“Finals”: A Short Story for Bad Survivalist by Tobenna Nwosu

Time once blew against our march to adulthood, now it stands so still we have to carry it. Chuba huffs ahead, face redder than fanned coal, shoulders slack, past strands that streak dew on our shirts, past the silence ruffled by desertion. A strip of cloud shadows us like we’re sheep grazing astray, munching farther…
“The Kingdom Come Queer Gun Club and Wilderness Survival School”: A Short Story for Bad Survivalist by J. D. Schraffenberger

Early in the first summer of the president’s third term, right before Franny won the lottery, my dad died. The book club had just chosen The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey. Gus grumbled into his Cabernet that it wasn’t a queer book proper. Franny sighed. This was an old argument. The Queer Book Club…
Bad Survivalist Fiction: “Body Snatching in the 21st Century” by Mathew Serback

Show some goddamned patience. No one—not even a body snatcher—gets rich overnight. When no one attends the funeral, you might as well leave them to the worms. Anyone worth something draws a crowd—unless the will’s already been read and possessions divided up. The gold teeth aren’t worth it. You might find a silver ring or…
Bad Survivalist: Two Poems by Simon Ravenscroft

Emergence / upon clifftop Ever emerging into further con-vergences of perforated selfhood,one alights occasionally on this orthat compelling instant, truth shimmeringin the open apparently … for a time,for a time … before scuttling away againinto the hills to hide beneath the trees.Reflecting back later, nothing isever so convincing as it wasthe first time, back when…
New Fiction for Bad Survivalist: “EDC” by Kent Kosack

Lesser men leave the house without sparing a second, third, or 464th thought for what they carry. Without a plan, a backup plan, a backup plan should the backup plan prove itself wanting. Not him though. He’s equipped for all contingencies. Prepared. Properly outfitted. Carry for the life you want, not the life you have—that’s…
Three Poems of Bad Survivalism: Sebastian Hunter

The Vintner I saw a lot of miracles on my descent to the gardenInnumerable rodents in crotches of carmine redstained with halos and television antennaeStand close enough and you can pick up messages for the unemployed,calls from one desolate sibling to anotherAt the base of the alder lazes the young vintner,preoccupied with “filtration” and what…
Fiction for Bad Survivalist: “If, Then” by Iryna Somkina

Prologue: SPLIT SECOND “I pierced it myself”. He lifted his shirt to prove it. We weren’t that close—not really. But we shared the same side of the joke more often than not. He once teased me for not getting a kiss I wanted. I got him back—called him by that dumb alias he picked up…
Fiction for Bad Survivalists: “Butterfly Knife” by Joshua Wetjen

My dad waves the shiny blade in front of my face. “This is a real weapon,” he says, patting my fingers closed over the handle. My mom sighs and leaves to help Marnie make dinner in the kitchen. “What’s wrong?” Dad asks. Mom hates all weapons and violence. She hates how I’ve seen all the…
Bad Survivalist Poetry: “All My Ducks” by Charlie Brice

I sit across from the sweet Black womanat my doctor’s office. She’s checking me outafter a visit where I, once again, dodged the bulletsof mortality, bobbed and weaved to avoid morbidity’s blows. I love looking at the tchotchkes on her desk, especiallythe little plastic ducks along the front of her computer.I always say, Looks like…